By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
On paper, tonight's game looks like a daunting challenge for Dwight Lofton's Mustangs and Sue Jayroe's Lady Mustangs tonight at West Memphis.
The West Memphis Blue Devils (10-2 and 1-0) are ranked second in the state by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and first in Class AAAAA.
The Lady Blue Devils (9-7, 1-0) are not ranked but probably will be before the end of the year.
Since the 1996-97 season, neither Forrest City team has had much luck in gaining a victory over the Blue Devils or Lady Blue Devils.
The Mustangs are 3-11 against West Memphis in the past 14 AAAAA-East Conference games while the Lady Mustangs are 0-14.
The Mustangs' last success against West Memphis came during the 2000-01 season when the Mustangs won twice.
Lofton's Mustangs, 8-5 overall, enter tonight's conference game still looking for their first league win of the young season. Forrest City fell to Cabot 66-52 last Friday while West Memphis downed Searcy.
For Cabot, it was the first win on the Mustangs' home floor since Lofton came to Forrest City during the 1996-97 season.
"If I could have found that hole that Saddam (Hussein) was hiding in when they caught him, I would have gone there," Lofton said. "Saturday morning, on the websites, you would have thought that Cabot's win was the biggest upset in state history."
Lofton is well aware that his Mustangs simply got outplayed by Cabot.
"They beat us in every phase of the game," Lofton said. "But tonight we have to go to West Memphis and try to bounce back. We have to get out of the dog house."
Lofton and his Mustangs have already seen the Blue Devils three times this season when West memphis played three in the November Rumble on the Ridge tournament.
The Blue Devils, minus a couple of players who were still in the football playoffs, went 1-2 in the Rumble and have not lost since.
Over in the Lady Mustangs camp, the Forrest City girls are looking for their first conference victory of the year as well, after losing to Cabot 66-41 on Friday.
The Lady Mustangs, who have been unable to find the bottom of the basketball goal on a consistent basis lately, are trying to free themselves from what has become a team-wide disease that is reaching epidemic proportions.
"We played about as hard as we can play," Jayroe said of her girls' efforts. "The girls don't give up in a game. We just can't buy a basket. I said a week or so ago, I need to find a new bank. We still haven't found it. West Memphis always puts a good team on the floor. Our success against them hasn't been good lately, but there's always the first time to start turning things around."
The Lady Blue Devils slipped past Searcy to start 1-0.
Meanwhile, in the Class AA ranks, the Palestine-Wheatley teams will host Barton tonight while the Hughes teams will make the trip to Turrell to take on the high-flying Rockets.
Palestine-Wheatley is in the 6AA Conference.
The Hughes Blue Devils and Lady Blue Devils are coming off Friday victories at Parkin while the Palestine-Wheatley teams play their second straight home game.
Hughes is a member of the 3AA South Conference.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Stephon Weaver and the rest of the Forrest City Junior Mustangs played only a couple of quarters Monday night against Blytheville.
That's all Forrest City Coach Jimmy Williams needed from his starting five.
Leading 23-11 after the opening quarter and 32-15 at the half, Williams emptied his bench for most of the second half as Forrest City went on to post a 75-28 win over the Junior Cougars.
Forrest City improves to 8-2 overall and 4-1 in the AAAAA-East.
Weaver led everyone and was just six points short of single-handedly beating Blytheville by himself, finishing with 23 points. Kelson Stewart finished with 16 points and Marcus Britt had 15 while Rylan Nimocks added eight and Terrill Lee had five.
Melvin Brooks led Blytheville with nine points.
Forrest City closed out the win with an 18-to-4 run in the fourth quarter.
In other junior high games Monday, Jonesboro MacArthur downed West Memphis East 43-40 in overtime while Jonesboro Annie Camp 7-4, 2-3) rolled up West Memphis West 45-34.
MacArthur stands at 9-2 and 5-1 for the year.
The losing streak reached three games for the Forrest City Junior Lady Mustangs Monday, as the team lost to Blytheville 36-31 at Mustang Arena.
Forrest City led until midway through the fourth quarter.
Forrest City led 10-8 after the first quarter and 16-15 at the half. They maintained a one-point 24-23 lead to start the fourth period.
Bookita Vaughn led Forrest City with nine points while Cassandra Jackson and Fareeda Washington had eight and Matisha Dobbins had four.
Forrest City stands at 4-6 and 0-5 for he year.